42% of transit plebiscite ballots returned so far

DH Vancouver StaffMay 20, 2015 3:06 pm

With a little more than one week remaining in the voting period, Elections B.C. has released its eighth update on the number of Metro Vancouver residents who have returned their transit plebiscite ballots.

As of May 20, during the first eight weeks of voting, 41.9 per cent or 654,691 ballots were returned and counted by the elections office.

Here is a full breakdown of the returned ballot numbers to date:

Bowen Island: 42.4% – 1,149 of 2,708

City of Burnaby: 41.0% – 59,342 of 144,584

City of Coquitlam: 42.8% – 37,133 of 86,706

City of Langley: 39.0% – 6,831 of 17,518

City of Maple Ridge: 43.8% – 23,840 of 54,490

City of New Westminster: 44.9% – 20,691 of 46,058

City of North Vancouver: 43.4% – 14,968 of 34,484

City of Pitt Meadows: 43.6% – 5,602 of 12,863

City of Port Coquitlam: 43.6% – 16,905 of 38,796

City of Port Moody: 42.9% – 9,699 of 22,600

City of Richmond: 41.3% – 51,602 of 124,836

City of Surrey: 37.4% – 110,610 of 295,499

City of Vancouver: 42.9% – 179,352 of 418,246

City of White Rock: 42.9% – 6,591 of 15,366

Corporation of Delta: 44.4% – 30,648 of 69,063

District of North Vancouver: 45.7% – 27,708 of 60,595

District of West Vancouver: 44.6% – 13,439 of 30,158

Metro Vancouver Electoral Area A: 36.0% – 2,317 of 6,442

Township of Langley: 44.5% – 34,615 of 77,845

Tsawwassen First Nation: 41.0% – 216 of 527

Village of Anmore: 45.0% – 684 of 1,519

Village of Belcarra: 52.1% – 265 of 509

Village of Lions Bay: 46.5% – 494 of 1,063

The number of returned ballots has been steadily climbing. Last week, the elections office counted 616,519 ballots or 39.5 per cent of the total number of registered voters.

Ballot numbers could soar during the final week of voting.

In total, over 1.56 million residents across the region’s 23 municipal jurisdictions are registered to vote in the plebiscite.

The results of the vote will be released several weeks after the voting deadline.

[am2_see_also]

The ballot question asks voters to approve a 0.5 per cent regional increase in the provincial sales tax (from 7.0 to 7.5%) to help fund the Mayors’ Council’s $7.5 billion, 10-year plan for transportation improvements.

This includes an underground extension of the SkyTrain Millennium Line along Broadway, a light rail transit network in Surrey, a new seismically safe Pattullo Bridge, improved night bus service, the use of a third SeaBus and a significant increase in bus network frequency, including the introduction of 11 new B-Line rapid bus routes.